Prenatal alcohol exposure tied to balance, coordination problems

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children who are diagnosed with
fetal alcohol spectrum disorder are at higher risk of having
impaired gross motor skills, according to a review of past
studies.

Balance, coordination and ball skills were the areas where
children exposed to alcohol in the womb had the most problems,
researchers found.

"This is biologically plausible as alcohol is a teratogen
which causes damage to the developing brain," Barbara Lucas told
Reuters Health in an email. "Areas of the brain that may be
damaged include those which are important for motor control."

Lucas is the study's lead author from The George Institute
for Global Health in Sydney, Australia.

Researchers aren't sure how many Americans have fetal
alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD), which is a collection of
conditions that occur among children whose mothers drank during
pregnancy.

Fetal alcohol syndrome, one of the more severe forms of FASD
featuring abnormal facial features and growth problems, is
estimated to occur in between 0.2 and 1.5 of every 1,000 live
births, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.

Lucas and her colleagues reviewed past studies to determine
how gross motor skills, which include sitting up and rolling
over, may be affected by prenatal alcohol exposure.

They looked at studies that included children up to 18 years
old with FASD, moderate to heavy alcohol exposure while in the
womb or a mother with alcohol dependency and compared them to
children without prenatal alcohol exposure or related problems.

The researchers found 14 studies to include in the analysis
and were able to combine data from 10 of those studies.

Overall, the odds of a child having gross motor skill
impairment tripled when the child had a FASD diagnosis or was
exposed to a moderate to heavy amount of alcohol while in the
womb.

The researchers were not able to determine exactly what
proportion of alcohol-exposed children has motor problems.

About 10 drinks per week constitutes moderate to high levels
of alcohol exposure, Lucas said, but no safe level of drinking
during pregnancy has been established.

"The safest option is to avoid alcohol," she said.

Specifically, the researchers found problems with balance,
coordination and how children were able to play with a ball were
more common among those with alcohol exposure in the womb.

"Children who are exposed to alcohol prenatally would
benefit from assessment of their gross motor skills," Lucas
said.

If problems are found, she said physiotherapists, who are
specialists in movement, can help children improve their skills.